About us

Our Mission

To carry out industry informed research on the adoption, deployment and sustainability of Connected Health solutions and translate this research in a way that can enable our member companies increase competitiveness.

Applied Research for Connected Health (ARCH) is an Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland funded Technology Centre, which is led by University College Dublin in collaboration with the University of Limerick. ARCH is an industry-informed centre providing access to world class clinicians, academics and patient cohorts to explore and evaluate potential connected health solutions for the global market.

In its Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation (2006-2013), the Irish Government proposed the establishment of technology centres to address the ‘key issue of building and reinforcing areas of strength within both industry and academic sphere and ensuring that these are highly networked with each other’.

Given Ireland’s critical mass of medical device companies, pharmaceutical companies, clinical research organisation and ICT companies as well as the government’s eHealth Strategy, Ireland is in a unique position to become a global centre of activity and excellence in connected health and ARCH is at the centre of this unparalleled connected health education and research infrastructure.

The centre was established in March 2013 and has a core body of funding secured until 2019. From March 2013 to July 2014 ARCH undertook a pilot research phase investigating the business, revenue, economic and clinical impact of integrating a connected health information platform into the dementia care pathway.

The centre is now in its Hosting Phase and over the next five years ARCH will conduct a research programme in Connected Health with emphasis on three key challenges – Care, Change and Data. Find out more about Research we have completed and are now actively involved in.

ARCH Launch

Find out more about ARCH by viewing news coverage of the official launch by Richard Bruton T.D. Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in May 2015.